I want to do a complete system restore. I'm referring to the tyoe that deletes everything.?

Question

I have an XP (Dell) that I bought in 2005. I want to system restore it. Can anyone fill in the blanks(---)?
To do a complete system restore, turn on the computer and when the -------- is on the screen push F--.
When do you push F--, by the way?
I've done a system restore, and this is the type I want to do, not the other reversible type. I want my computer to be like brand new after the restore. I don't want any of my old files.
Also, can all XPs do system restores or just the most recent ones?

Answer 1

Using Dell PC Restore by Symantec
NOTICE: Using Dell PC Restore permanently deletes all data on the hard drive and removes any application
programs or drivers installed after you received your computer. If possible, back up the data before using

Use Dell PC Restore by Symantec only as the last method to restore your operating system. PC Restore
restores your hard drive to the operating state it was in when you purchased the computer. Any programs
or files added since you received your computer—including data files—are permanently deleted from the
hard drive. Data files include documents, spreadsheets, e-mail messages, digital photos, music files, and
so on. If possible, back up all data before using PC Restore.
To use PC Restore:
1 Turn on the computer.
During the boot process, a blue bar with www.dell.com appears at the top of the screen.
2 Immediately upon seeing the blue bar, press .
If you do not press in time, let the computer finish starting, and then restart the
computer again.
NOTICE: If you do not want to proceed with PC Restore, click Reboot in the following step.
3 On the next screen that appears, click Restore.
4 On the next screen, click Confirm.
The restore process takes approximately 6–10 minutes to complete.
5 When prompted, click Finish to reboot the computer.
NOTE: Do not manually shut down the computer. Click Finish and let the computer completely reboot.
6 When prompted, click Yes.
The computer restarts. Because the computer is restored to its original operating state, the screens that
appear, such as the End User License Agreement, are the same ones that appeared the first time the
computer was turned on.
7 Click Next.
The System Restore screen appears and the computer restarts.
8 After the computer restarts, click OK.
9. You will now have to run Windows Update and Live Update for your virus protection as these will be seriously out of date!

Answer 2

and when the ---boot menu----- is on the screen push F--.10, 8 6 or 4, depends on the computer

or start accessories systems tools system recovery choose option without backups follow the command prompts and away you go......message if you need help

keep in mind recovering (wiping clean) and restoring are two different options restore takes it back to a certain state before something was installed or deleted. recovery (reformatting) is when the computer is put back to factory settings when you restore as long as it is turned on or hasn't been cleared, you can go back several months there is a restore point created every few days or when there is a change to the system. . recovery can be done as long as you have a recovery partition saved onto your hard drive.

Answer 3

It seems you're referring to the built-in system restore (the the ones on the laptops), and NOT the one in Windows XP.

When the PROMPT is on the screen, you should push the function key related to that (I don't have a Dell PC, but it is F2, F10 or something). You have to be fast though. You can see this prompt when you're booting the computer. Maybe it wants you to go into the computer's BIOS.

Have fun.

Answer 4

To do a complete system restore, turn on the computer and when the company logo is on the screen push F10 or F8 or F4, it really depends on the manufacturer. It would usually say so on the first screen, before Windows starts loading. What you're looking to do is actually called reformatting your hard drive. To do that, just start up system restore and follow the steps until it asks if you want to completely reset the drive [to factory settings].

Answer 5

do what weirdo has said in his post then use xp to do the following after it is up and running.

ask someone for help


Partition the Hard drive – reasons
========================
Firstly C drive is compulsory for the Operating System (XP) (Vista), and you install all your programs on C drive.

D drive is made for YOUR files.

What you do is MOVE my documents to D drive.

When you download music, videos, pictures from your camera or make any MS Office documents or save emails, you save it on D drive.

The reason for this is to do with
1. Hard drive failure - usually a failed hard drive will not boot, but can often be seen when hooked up as a slave.
So when you get your new hard drive up and running, you can copy D drive from your old to your new. You haven’t lost anything.

2. Virus. Normally virus are programmed to infect C drive. If you get a bad virus all that has to be done is format the C drive partition then re install you OS and programs from disks.
You haven’t lost your personal stuff because its on D drive.

3. Scanning your C drive for virus or spyware. These malware programs live on C drive. It is not necessary to scan D drive. It is a lot quicker to scan a small partition than a large hard drive.


Now you can see the above is compromised by the fact that programs get updates and lots of programs are installed from the net. Therefore if you had to wipe out C drive it be hard to get it back to how it was.
To remedy this we use Norton Ghost to image C drive and store the Image on D drive.
(Vista requires a version 10 or newer of Ghost).

If you get a bad virus you just use the Ghost disk to boot up on, then copy the image stored on D drive back over C drive.
It takes less than 30 mins to rebuild C drive.
Also you may have this running on say a 250 gig HDD, and it fails. You buy a new 400 gig HDD and install both into you computer, the failed one as a slave.
Using the ghost disk to boot up on, you partition the 400 C drive to 30 gig (XP)and the remaining to D drive. Then you repack C drive from the image. Then Copy your old D drive files to your new one. In a time of less than 1 hour and it’s all running. The image loads all the drivers, OS everything.

Then you update new images of C drive every few months so that the one stored on D drive is not to far out of date.


On XP and Vista you create C drive to a maximum of (XP 30 gig, Vista 40 Gig) It doesn’t need to be any bigger, so don’t make C drive to big as you will not use it.

Answer 6

By "an XP", I assume you mean the OS? If what you want is an absolutely clean machine, like the day you bought it, you should reformat the hard drive and do a clean OS install. I've found that to be the only reliable method of totally cleaning out your old files and junk that's accumulated in your system directories. It's a lot easier than most people think. Need help? Email me.

Answer 7

Absolutely "NORTON GHOST" is the best way to restore your PARTITION or HARD DISK. After restore you have a clean windows (also any other installed softwares). Restoring takes few minutes (3 min for 20 giga byte partition).
Try that!

Answer 8

Well, what you are talking about is a format. If you have the boot CDs for your computer, then while your computer is on, put the first boot CD into the CD-Rom drive and restart the computer. The computer will boot from the CD.

And then it'll ask to format your computer. Pick the NTFS format option and do a full.

From there, just follow the instructions.

Answer 9

F disc will delete everything including the windows system.

Answer 10

From what you have written above, it seems that you are trying to do a repair install of windows , or reinstallation of windows